"I know." She shrugged. "I hope you're not mad."
He closed his eyes leaning back on the couch, struggling with his emotions. On one hand, he hadn't wanted her to get pregnant so soon. It wasn't part of his five year plan, and his five year plan had already been upset by the twins and his marriage. This would throw it completely off course!
On the other hand, he loved the idea of her having his baby. A child of their own for them to raise, not someone else's. "And you're worried that I'm going to kick you out because you're pregnant with my child?"
"Well, you made it really clear you weren't ready for a baby yet. That you wanted to wait." Had she been worried for no real reason?
"Waiting would have been ideal." He shrugged. "I have this five year plan."
"Five year plan? Really?" It was the last thing she'd expected him to say.
"In five years I was going to be ready to start looking for a wife, and then children would be a natural consequence. But I inherited the girls, and I love them dearly. I wouldn't give them up for anything. So I told myself I was still on track with my plan, but I needed someone to help me raise them. I decided I could put off sex with my new wife for five years. I didn't think it would be a problem."
Samara laughed. "Five years? You didn't last three days!"
Henry frowned at her. "I'm aware." He shook his head. "I don't feel like I'm ready to be a father. It's not that I don't care for you, because I do. I just feel like I should have waited until I was ready financially and emotionally."
"Is anyone ever really ready?"
He sighed. "I guess not. I just—I thought I should wait until I was. I wanted to have all my ducks in a row."
"Well, your ducks are waddling in every direction. How do you feel now?"
Henry held his hand out to her, and she stood, walking to him. He pulled her down onto his lap, holding her close. "How do I feel? I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you since the night we first made love. I never would have let it go so far if I wasn't." He pulled her head down to his, and kissed her sweetly. "How do you feel now?"
She smiled. "Relieved. I wasn't sure how to have this conversation with you. Especially since I thought that you only cared about me for the things I did around the house."
"Have you been sick? The twins' mom spent months doing nothing but throwing up."
Samara shook her head. "No, I haven't been sick yet, but the doctor said it's really too early for that."
He put his hand over her flat stomach. "It's hard to believe there's a baby in there already."
"I know! Lachele is going to go nuts!"
"Dr. Lachele? Why's that?"
"She has a wall decorated with pictures of all the babies that have come from Matchrimony matches. She calls them her Matchrimony Munchkins."
"Are you serious?"
Samara nodded emphatically. "Oh, the woman is certifiable. That's why she's so good at what she does!"
He laughed. "I guess she will be happy then." He looked at her. "What about you? You've got so much going on right now. You're working full-time, taking care of the girls and all the housework and cooking, teaching Sunday school. Can you handle all that?"
Samara shrugged. "Maybe I'll hire someone to come in and clean once a week. That would give me more time to read—I mean it would help me out a lot. Take some of the burden off of me." She smiled at him, hoping he hadn't caught her comment about reading.
He just laughed. "I think that's a great idea. That way you can just deal with the girls and your work. And cooking, of course."
"Of course."
He pulled her down and kissed her again. "I'm sorry you didn't feel like you could talk to me about this. I'm thrilled. I shouldn't be, but I am. I love you, and you're having my baby. I can't complain a bit."
Samara smiled. "I love you too, you know."
"Yup, I know."
"You do? How?"
"If you hadn't loved me you'd have run off as soon as the girls told you about their skin falling off if they bathed too much. That was my proof."
Samara laughed. "You're a mess. Did you know that?"
He shrugged. "I'm your mess."
Epilogue
"Samara, don't keep me in suspense! I know you found out the sex of the baby today. You need to tell me if I'm having a granddaughter or a grandson!" Lachele glared at Samara from her monitor.
Samara shrugged. "What if I want you to be surprised?" She hadn't even told Henry yet.
"Oh, come on SamiSunflower! Don't do this to me! Does it have a tallywacker or a petunia?" Lachele was practically begging.
"Not telling. You're flying out for my gender reveal party this weekend anyway. You can wait that long!"
"I can, but I don't want to!"
"That's just too bad. I'm not even telling Henry until the party, so you don't get to know either."
"As your employer, I order you to tell me what the sex of your baby is!"
Samara just laughed. "You couldn't do without me. Nope. You'll find out just as soon as everyone else does. When the cake is cut." Samara put her finger on the key that would end her call with Lachele. "Goodbye, Lachele. See you this weekend!"
Lachele stared at the blank monitor. "She hung up on me. I can't believe she'd do that! I'm going to fly out there and strangle her!"
In Kansas, Samara laughed softly, patting her belly. "She's going to freak out when she realizes there's a tallywacker and a petunia. There sure are a lot of twins around here." She grinned as she thought of how surprised Henry would be. She'd known for two months she was having twins, but she decided she needed to give him a bit more time before she threw off his five year plan. Again.
For a complete list of books by Kirsten Osbourne, go here.
Crazy Dr. Lachele and Samara also appear in the book The Nanny. Read on for an excerpt of this book, part of The Fabulous Dalton Boys.
Chapter One
Ashley Sinclair stood in the checkout line at Wal-Mart with her aunt and her aunt's assistant. Aunt Lachele was a psychologist who had started a matchmaking business she called Matchrimony. It was weird, but Ashley couldn't complain, because it made her aunt deliriously happy.
Lachele was looking at a copy of The Dirt and frowning. "Those three boys have more money than they know what to do with. Why can't they settle down and act right?"
Ashley blinked at her crazy purple-haired aunt. "What boys?"
"Oh, those Daltons. You've heard about them! Their family had this huge ranching empire, and their dad blew it all gambling and drinking. And now they've found oil, so they're rich as sin, but they don't know how to behave themselves." Lachele shook her head. "Their mama died when they were born, so I guess no one can hold it against them."
Samara, a pretty girl in her late twenties, added, "They're triplets. Always in the tabloids."
Ashley glanced at the magazine in question. "What did they do?"
Lachele shrugged. "What don't they do? I swear, every one of those boys only knows how to think with what's in his pants. They've left a whole slew of love-sick girls all across Texas." She mumbled something under her breath about men being unable to think with their pants too tight and cutting off blood flow to their jewels. "Don't you ever get involved with a bad boy like that. You hear me, Ashley?"
"Yes, Aunt Lachele." The three men on the front of the magazine were identical, other than one sporting a full bushy beard. But more importantly? They were hot. Ashley wanted to fan her face just looking at their pictures.
After they'd checked out, they walked toward the car Lachele had hired to take them into New Jersey for their twice-a-month stock up on groceries. With all the stores in Manhattan, Ashley still wasn't certain why they had to go to New Jersey to shop at Wal-Mart, but she knew better than to ask. She'd gotten an earful when she had tried to figure it out a couple of months before when she'd first moved in with Aunt Lachele.
"It's downright un-American not to have a Wal-Mart close to you. Why, Wal-Marts are a God-given right in this cou
ntry, and I think the mayor of New York City needs to be fined and forced to use a bulldozer on some of those stupid sky-scrapers to build us a Wal-Mart. What is this world coming to?" The discussion had simply gone downhill from there. No, Ashley would never ask again, and instead, she meekly followed along whenever her aunt suggested a trip to Wal-Mart.
Ashley had gotten a double major in early childhood and elementary education a year before, and she'd taught for the first semester of the year, taking the place of a teacher who was out on maternity leave. After one semester of teaching, she realized that she was not cut out to work in the school system. She couldn't see herself spending the rest of her life teaching young children how to take tests.
She'd moved in with her aunt while trying to decide where she wanted to go from there, and was substitute teaching while she lived there, further cementing her resolve she could never teach.
The previous week, she'd taken a day off from subbing and had gone to a domestic agency to see if she could be placed as a nanny. She loved the idea of spending her life working with children, but she still didn't know in what capacity she should do it. She'd get there. Soon.
*****
Ashley was on a break the following day; the kindergarteners she was teaching were in their music class. She was checking her email on her phone, scrolling through all the spam, thinking she really needed to change her email address, when it rang. She answered quickly. "Hello?"
"Is this Ashley Sinclair?" asked a no-nonsense female voice on the other end of the phone.
"Yes, it is."
"This is Sandra Martin. You applied for a position with our agency last week. We've had something come up that would require you to relocate. You indicated you didn't mind relocating as long as the position was live in. Is that correct?"
Ashley felt her heart beating faster. This might be the opportunity she was waiting for. "That's correct. I actually like the idea of relocating." She'd been born and raised in Montana, and it seemed so odd to her to live in Manhattan. She'd wanted the change, but she was already tired of city life.
"Have you ever been to Texas?"
Ashley frowned. It was hot in Texas. "No. I haven't, but I'm not opposed to going there." She'd learn to deal with the heat.
"Can you fly out tomorrow? Instead of an interview they're asking that you commit to a one month trial period. If it goes well, you'll stay."
"Wow. That's fast." She thought of the jobs she had lined up for the next two days, but she knew she could drop them if she needed to. "That would be fine. What airport should I get the ticket to fly into?"
"Oh, the father will take care of that for you as soon as I call him back. I'll email you with your itinerary within an hour or two. We'll need you to report in once a week for the first month to let us know how the position is working out for you. You'll be caring for an infant."
Ashley smiled. She'd rather start with a baby than a spoiled older child. "Sounds wonderful. Thank you."
As soon as she hung up the phone, Ashley texted her aunt. "I've got a job in Texas. Flying out in the morning. Will be a nanny. More info tonight."
She leaned back in her chair with a smile. No more teaching to standardized tests, and she still got to use her degree. She couldn't think of anything that would make her happier.
*****
Ashley hurried to baggage claim. She'd been given instructions to meet her driver there. She hoped she would have access to a car in Texas. Driving was one of her greatest pleasures, and she'd spent enough time in New York City that she was really missing it.
She pulled her large suitcase off the conveyor belt and scanned the room. There were several people who were very obviously drivers, all dressed neatly and holding up signs. Finally she spotted an older gentleman with a receding hairline. He held up a sign with her name on it. "I'm Ashley Sinclair."
The man nodded, holding his hand out to shake hers. "Roger Biggs. I'll be taking you to the Dalton Ranch, ma'am." He took her suitcase and started dragging it toward the exit and she half-walked and half-ran to keep up with him.
"How far is the Dalton Ranch?" she asked, wondering why the name Dalton sounded so familiar to her.
"It'll take us about an hour and a half. Traffic is relatively light at this time of day, and we're going through Fort Worth, not Dallas. Same distance would take two and a half hours if we were driving through Dallas."
He put her suitcase in the back of a Cadillac Escalade before running to the passenger side and opening the back door for her. After getting into the driver's seat, he asked, "Is this your first trip to Texas?"
Ashley nodded, watching out the window as he left the small parking garage. "Yes. I haven't been many places."
"Lived in New York all your life?"
For a moment she was startled that he knew where she had flown in from, but she realized he must have been given the information in case her flight was delayed or something happened. "No, sir. I grew up in Montana, and went to college there. I moved to New York in January to be with my aunt for a bit."
"I see. Never lived through a Texas summer then. You're in for a shock."
She laughed. "I'm sure I am. I grew up in the tiny little town of King, Montana. We had summers we thought were hot, but nothing like I've read about Texas summers."
They chatted during the drive. She watched everything out the window, a bit surprised when they left the city, and kept driving. "I figured I'd be working in the city," she said.
"Oh, no, ma'am. The Dalton Ranch is just outside Dalton, Texas. It's a beautiful part of the state. They still have several hundred head of cattle, many of them descendants of the cattle their great-great-grandaddy had back in the 1800s. The ranch and the town that was named after it are full of rich history, if you like that kind of thing."
Ashley smiled. "Oh, I do." She loved the idea of getting out and exploring the area. The baby was certainly too young now, but it would get older, and she could take it on some educational field trips. This job may be a trial for the Daltons, but for her, she was settling in. She wanted to see the baby go off to its first day of school. And maybe one day, it would have younger siblings.
She daydreamed a bit about what the family would be like. Obviously the mother worked, and that's why she was needed. She'd always thought she'd stay home with her children and teach them herself, but of course, that made sense with her having a degree in early childhood.
When they pulled up in front of the ranch, she gawked at the beauty of the house. "Wow!"
The driver smiled. "This house has a lot of stories to tell if you're of a mind to listen to them," he told her. He hurried around and opened her door, going to the back of the vehicle to remove her suitcase.
Ashley took deep calming breaths. She wished she'd taken the time to freshen up at the airport instead of running to baggage claim. Her clothes were wrinkled from the long flight, and she was certain her hair was a mess.
The driver hurried and knocked on the door, dragging her suitcase with him, stepping back when the door opened. "Mr. Dalton, I've brought Miss Sinclair from the airport as requested." He left her bag on the step, smiling down at Ashley. "Thank you for the pleasant conversation, Miss Ashley."
Ashley smiled, wondering if she was supposed to tip the man. She started to dig in her purse, and he shook his head. "It's been taken care of, Miss. Enjoy your stay in Texas."
"Thank you!" she said, so happy that the first person she'd met in Texas had lived up to her expectations of Texas friendliness.
As he walked off, she turned her attention to the man at the door. He had a scruffy beard and was wearing a pair of jeans and a stained white tee-shirt. "I'm Ashley, the nanny."
The man said nothing to her, grabbing her suitcase with one hand and her wrist with the other. He half-dragged her through the house and down a long hallway, yelling out, "Barrett, she's here!" As she was pulled through the living room, she saw a painting of an older man, probably from the late 19th century. He looked identical to the many pu
lling her. She wondered idly if he'd dressed up in old fashioned clothes to have his portrait painted.
Ashley could hear the sound of a baby crying, and she rushed into the room where her new charge was, taking the baby off a king size bed where a man stood over it looking perplexed. She dropped her carry-on and scooped the baby into her arms, holding it against her. She could feel the sogginess of the diaper through her clothes. "Fresh diapers?" she asked.
The second man, Barrett, rushed away and brought back a diaper that was obviously at least a size three. Ashley frowned. "Don't you have any that fit?"
"Are there different sizes?" he asked, a frown on his face.
Ashley sighed, laying the baby down on the bed, trying not to be annoyed at the urine on the front of her shirt. She quickly changed the baby's diaper, noting that it was a boy as she did so. As soon as he was dry, she picked him up, cooing to him softly. "There you go, sweetheart. No wonder you were crying. You had a whole ocean in your diaper. Yes, you did!"
The baby stared at her with wide eyes, and she felt her heart melt instantly. She looked up at the man she assumed was his father. "Where's his room?"
Barrett shrugged. "He doesn't have one yet. He's been sleeping with me."
Ashley frowned. "So he doesn't have a crib? Or a changing table? Where do you put him for naps?"
"I just got him two days ago. I don't know where to put him for anything yet!" Barrett looked at the pretty little woman who glared daggers back at him. "Maybe you can help with that?"
Ashley gave a brief nod. "When will your wife be home?"
He frowned. "I don't have a wife. It's only me and my brothers, and Baby Dalton."
"Baby Dalton? You haven't even named him yet?" What was wrong with this man? She had a hard time believing the hospital let them bring the baby home without a name.
"Oh, he has a name. It's Dalton."
"Yes, that's his last name." The man was slow. Had he been hit in the head or something? Or was he naturally slow? "He needs a first name as well."
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